Dumai is the main port city in Riau province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Typical of such cities, it is quite seedy and there is nothing really much to do once you have arrived except to get out as soon as you can. However, you may well find yourself arriving here as it is a major ferry port with connections to the Malaysian cities of Port Klang, Port Dickson and Malacca as well as other Indonesian cities like Bengkalis and Batam.

From other parts of Indonesia

Dumai Express (Tel: +62-765-31820; Office at Jl. Jenderal Sudirman No.425) operates several ferries to/from Batam and Bintan. Most ferries stop by Bengkalis off the coast of Riau, and also Tanjung Balai on Karimun Island.

In Batam, ferries dock at Sekupang, next to the international ferry terminal where there are connecting ferries to Singapore. In Bintan, ferries arrive/depart from Tanjung Pinang harbour in the middle of town.

Other islands:

Indonesia's national passenger shipping company Pelni ships call at Dumai, linking it with Sumatran ports like Medan and other Indonesian islands like Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

Get around

Nothing much to see if you don't have a transport. The town is quite small where you can walk around in half a day just like Kuah, Langkawi, Malaysia.

See

Grand Mosque Almanan, about 15 km from the city center on the way to Pekanbaru.

Do

Buy

Eat

Minang Sari. Delicious bakso (meatball soup).

You can eat the Nasi Padang, cheap. Four persons eat much for less than RM20.

the famous Indonesian Food Restaurant (Nasi padang) is Pak Datuk.
Even Jakarta people buy from this restaurant.

Drink

Sleep

There are two or three nice and new hotels. Once you reach the jetty, do not allow any touts to bother you. Walk fast and get a trycycle to go to your hotel. Do not tell anybody how long you are going to stay. You can say you came for business meeting with your boss. Your boss is arriving later. You won't be bothered after that. Otherwise the van touts and tricycle touts will try to push prostitutes.

Get out

The local bus station is about 3 km out of Dumai where busses leave for the nextmost tourist destinations in Sumatra, Bukittinggi (ca. 8-9 hrs) or Lake Maninjau.